Heisman trophy travels to Elmhurst for charity

It's not every day that you see one of the most esteemed trophies in American sports propped informally on the seat of a barber's chair.

But that's how Johnny Lattner's 1953 Heisman trophy rolls.

Lattner, who lives in Melrose Park, was awarded the trophy during his football-playing days at the University of Notre Dame. He lets anyone have the trophy for a week, often because they bid for the right to keep it for a while at a charity auction.

The iconic gold-hued trophy awarded annually since 1935 to a person selected as college football's outstanding player was on display one day recently at York Barbershop, 921 S. York St., in Elmhurst.

"When people see this they want to have a picture with it," said Ray Stella who operates the shop.

One of Stella's customers, John Paul Demirdjian, won the right to keep the trophy for a week after he placed a bid at a charity auction.

He could have kept it at home, but Demirdjian decided to pay it forward. He allowed the trophy to be displayed at various businesses, such as the barbershop, where people could see it, touch it and take a photo with it in exchange for making a charitable donation.

The money raised during the week went to The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, which is funding research into a little known but devastating disease that causes dementia, even in very young people.

Demirdjian chose the charity because he, and his wife, Kristen, are friends of the family of a 41-year-old man, Josh Pierce, who has the illness and now lives in a residential facility in Vernon Hills.

Pierce has twin 6-year-old daughters who visit him often.

"He doesn't even know who they are. It's the saddest thing you can imagine," Demirdjian said.

Demirdjian said he did not know how much the traveling trophy would earn during the week it toured the Chicago area but he said he would match the amount up to about $1,000.

Stopping in for a trim at the barbershop, Ed Momkust of Elmhurst walked right past the large trophy in a barber's chair.

After it was pointed out, he laughed. Then he admired the old-fashioned leather helmet on the head of the football player depicted on the trophy.